Evolution and environment of Caribbean coastal ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Isolation of the Caribbean Sea from the tropical Eastern Pacific by uplift of the Isthmus of Panama in the late Pliocene was associated with major, taxonomically variable, shifts in Caribbean biotic composition, and extinction, but inferred causes of these biological changes have remained elusive. We addressed this through falsifiable hypotheses about how independently determined historical changes in oceanographic conditions may have been responsible. The most striking environmental change was a sharp decline in upwelling intensity as measured from decreases in intra-annual fluctuations in temperature and consequently in planktonic productivity. We then hypothesized three general categories of biological response based upon observed differences in natural history between the oceans today.

SUBMITTER: Jackson JBC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10589623 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature